Film

Hate Story

Name: Hate Story
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 2012
Cast: Nikhil Dwivedi, Gulshan Devaiah, Paoli Dam, Saurabh Dubey, Bhairavi Goswami

A revenge thriller that follows a journalist's descent into vengeance against the wealthy man who wronged her. *Hate Story* is a pulpy, unsubtle affair—all melodrama and betrayal—that doesn't pretend to be anything but a vehicle for righteous fury. It's for viewers who want raw emotion and a woman who strikes back, even if the film itself wobbles between exploitation and earnest drama.

TMDb rating

2.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy glossy, lurid revenge melodramas where a wronged heroine's scheming is the whole pleasure, and you don't mind a plot that leans into its own juiciness.

Skip it if the film runs a long 140 minutes and its tone swings between sleek and sensational, so if slow-building subtlety or restrained storytelling is what you want, the excess will grate.

What it asks of you: Plan for a little over two hours of heightened, operatic plotting played straight, with few quiet pauses to catch your breath.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Udta Punjab2016

A fierce, unflinching Indian drama about corruption and survival. Like *Hate Story*, it centers a character at the mercy of powerful men—but *Udta Punjab* has vastly superior direction and asks harder questions about justice and complicity.

But It's angrier and grittier than *Hate Story*, with a bleaker view of whether revenge or resistance actually matters. The film doesn't offer catharsis.

Badlapur2015

A study in how vengeance warps a man's soul. If you're drawn to *Hate Story*'s premise—someone ruined seeking payback—this explores it with actual psychological depth and a genuinely devastating final act.

But Deliberately paced. The first hour moves slowly, and Varun Dhawan's character isn't likeable. You need patience for it to earn its power.

Pink2016

A rage-filled courtroom drama about four women fighting back against powerful men who assault them. It's *Hate Story*'s righteous anger elevated—smarter, angrier, and with genuine stakes in the justice system rather than personal vendetta.

But Explicitly didactic. It's a film with a message, and it delivers that message with a hammer. Some find that preachy; others find it bracing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hate Story

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Margarita with a Straw2015

Both are about women refusing to be victims of circumstance—one through revenge, one through love and self-determination.

A coming-of-age romance told through the eyes of a lesbian woman with cerebral palsy. Utterly different genre and register from *Hate Story*, but both center a female character claiming agency and desire in a world designed to diminish her. This does it with tenderness instead of fury.

But Slow, intimate, literary. If you came for *Hate Story*'s pulp momentum, this will feel small and quiet. Also requires comfort with explicit sexuality.

Article 152019

Ayushmann Khurrana as a cop investigating a caste-based crime in rural India. Shares *Hate Story*'s interest in systemic corruption and power imbalances, but with journalistic rigor and political teeth.

But Heavy subject matter about caste violence. It's a serious, sometimes bleak procedural, not a thriller with momentum.

Natrang2010

A Marathi film about an aging theater performer whose world collapses. Tonally it's the opposite of *Hate Story*—introspective, tragicomic—but both are about ego, humiliation, and someone's reckoning with their place in the world.

But In Marathi with subtitles. Slow-burn character study, nothing like a thriller. You need to meet it halfway.

Rang De Basanti2006

Young people pushed to extremity by corruption and injustice, willing to risk everything to fight back. Shares *Hate Story*'s passion about righteousness, though filtered through idealism rather than vendetta.

But A Bollywood epic that sometimes sacrifices nuance for emotion. Its politics wear its heart on its sleeve, which works for some and feels naive to others.

Pyaasa1957

The grandfather of revenge-tinged Indian cinema. A poet destroyed by a callous world strikes back through his art. It's melodrama, but melodrama made with genuine craft and moral conviction—a reminder of what the genre can be.

But In black and white, over sixty years old. The pacing is deliberate, almost meditative. This isn't a modern thriller.

Memories in March2011

A quietly devastating film about a mother discovering her son's sexual orientation after his death. No vengeance here—just the slow erosion of a woman's worldview and what she learns to accept. Emotionally sophisticated in ways *Hate Story* isn't.

But Profoundly sad. Not a thriller, not cathartic. Requires emotional openness and sits with grief rather than resolving it.

Kahaani2012

Released the same year as *Hate Story*, this is a woman-centered thriller with actual mystery, suspense, and craft. Vidya Balan's pregnant detective searching for her husband will keep you guessing right to the end.

But Pregnant women are rarely central to thrillers and it's distracting if that's new to you. Some find the ending too clever by half.

An Elephant Sitting Still2018

Both examine how powerlessness and betrayal warp a person. *Elephant* asks what happens when revenge becomes impossible.

A Chinese film following four people through a day of humiliation, exploitation, and helplessness in a chaotic city. Like *Hate Story*, it's about people trapped by systems of power—but instead of revenge, it offers something stranger: the possibility of escape, maybe just witness.

But Four hours long. Bleak, handheld, utterly unresolved. It's searching rather than satisfying. Also in Mandarin.

The Servant1963

Both are about what happens when someone decides to destroy the person who destroyed them, and what that destruction does to the avenger.

Joseph Losey's British psychological thriller about a master and servant locked in a power struggle that inverts itself over time. The dynamic is *Hate Story*'s obsession—dominance, humiliation, control—but in a claustrophobic single room, far more formally ambitious and morally ambiguous.

But Black and white, 1960s pacing, entirely about psychology and power rather than plot. If you need action or resolution, you won't find it.